Electrical connections



June 21, 1966 F. COBAUGH ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS Original Filed Jan. 20, 1964 United States Patent Oflice 3,257,635 Patented June 21, 1966 3,257,635 ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS Robert Franklin Cobaugh, Hershey, Pa., assignor to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

Original application Jan. 20, '1964, Ser. No. 338,663. Divided and this application Aug. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 478,828

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 4, 1963,

8,56 /63 4 Claims. (Cl. 339-97) This invention is a division of application Serial No. 338,663, filed January 20, 1964, for Electrical Connections and relates to clip-type electrical connections and to terminal clips for making such connections.

In accordance with the teachings of application Serial No. 338,663 and application Serial No. 171,074, filed February 5, 1962, a clip-type electrical connection is made by moving a terminal clip past a transversely extending conductor and onto a terminal post in a manner such that the clip, after it comes to rest on the post, holds the conductor against, and in electrical contact with the post. In most instances, the terminal post is of rectangular cross-section and the conductor is confined between the clip and the surface of one of the wide sides of the terminal post. The present invention is directed to a clip for making electrical connections between a conductor and the narrow side or edge of a terminal post and to electrical connections between conductors and the narrow sides or edges of terminal posts.

An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide an improved clip for making clip-type terminal connections and to provide improved clip-type terminal connections. A further object is to provide a terminal clip which can be used with terminal posts that are closely spaced together. A still further object is to provide a terminal clip that can be used to make a clip-type terminal connection between a conductor and the narrow side of a rectangular terminal post.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferred embodiment thereof in which the clip comprises a generally cylindrical web portion having one integral sidewall which is adapted to extend along a wide side of the terminal post. The end of this sidewall is bent to form a flange adapted to extend past a narrow side of the clip and the end of this flange, in turn, is curled so that it is adapted to bear against the remaining wide side of the post. An additional relatively short sidewall extends from the web portion and is adapted to bear against the wide side of the post which is opposite to the side against which the other sidewall bears. In a completed connection in accordance with the invention, the web portion is thus disposed against a narrow side or edge of the post and the conductor is confined between the internal surface of the Web and the surface of this narrow side. The sidewalls of the clip function to hold the web against the conductor so that the conductor is held against the narrow side of the post and in electrical contact therewith.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of terminal clip in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the clip of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a View taken along the lines 33 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURES 4 and 5 are fragmentary perspective views illustrating the manner in which electrical connections in accordance with the invention are made; and

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a group of closely spaced terminal posts to which conductors are connected in accordance with the invention.

A terminal clip 2 in accordance with the invention is particularly intended to be used with a terminal post 4 of rectangular cross-section having relatively wide parallel sides 6 and relatively narrow sides or edges 8. Specifically, the clip 2 is used to make an electrical connection between a conductor 40 and one of the narrow sides 8 of the terminal post rather than one of the wide sides 6. It is desirable to connect the conductor to the narrow side of the post under circumstances, for example, where a plurality of posts are mounted on a support 12 with the wide sides 6 relatively close to each other and with the narrow sides spaced apart by an amount adequate to accommodate a clip-type electrical connection. The upper end of the post shown in the drawing isrounded as shown at 10 although alternative shapes on this upper end can be employed if desired.

The clip 2 comprises a generally cylindrical web portion 14 having a first sidewall 16 extending for a short distance therefrom substantially throughout its length. A second sidewall 18 extends from the web 14 for a distance substantially equal to the width of a wide side 6 of the post. Advantageously, the side 18 is outwardly bowed intermediate its ends to give a spring effect when the clip is moved onto the terminal post as will be described more fully below. The end of the sidewall 18 is bent as shown at 22 to form a flange which is opposite to the web portion 14- and which is adapted to bear against the opposite narrow side of the post from the side which the web 14 is disposed adjacent to. 'The end of this flange, in turn, is curled as shown at 24 so that its edge 25 will bear against the wide side of the post which is opposite to the side against which the sidewall 18 is disposed.

A strain relief and insulation support 26 is provided at one end of the web portion 14 by severing the web from the sidewall 16 as shown at 28 thereby to permit the arcuate ear portion 26 of the web to be bent outwardly.

Electrical connections in accordance with the invention are advantageously made by means of a suitable tool comprising a mandrel block 30 from which a T-shaped mandrel 32, 34 extends. The Width of the head portion 34 of the mandrel is such that the clip can he slid over the head portion as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 and onto the terminal posts by means of a suitable clip pushing device, Tools of this type are disclosed more fully in US. Patent 3,191,281, FIGURES 41 and 42.

The mandrel head 34 is provided with a transversely extending slot 36 having arcuate sidewalls 38, 39 of a radii conforming to the radius of the insulated wire 40. The lower end of the head portion of the mandrel is advantageously provided with an arcuate depression which conforms to the radius of the upper end 10 of the terminal post in order to assist the operator in positioning the tool against the upper end of the post and in accurate alignment therewith.

In use, the wire is inserted into the slot as shown in FIGURE 4 until its end is located at the right-hand end of the head as viewed in FIGURE 4. The terminal clip is then moved over the mandrel and onto the post until it reaches the position of FIGURE 5. During such movement of the clip, its leading end moves against the conductor and pushes the insulation thereof against the edge of the sidewall 39 of the slot thereby to cut into the conductor so that upon further movement of the clip, the insulation is circumferentially severed and the conducting core 42 of the wire is drawn from the end portion of insulation which remains in the slot.

When the terminal clip comes to rest, the stripped end 42 of the conductor is thus confined between the side 8 of the post and the internal surface of the web portion 14 of the clip. The conductor emerges from confined relationship through the insulation support and strain relief section 26 of the clip which is disposed proximate to the base or panel 12 from which the post extends.

As previously pointed out, electrical connections in accordance with the invention are particularly advantageous where a group of terminal posts having a rectangular crosssection are located with their wide sides relatively close to each other. Conventional commercially available electrical relays are sometimes manufactured with posts located in this manner as illustrated in FIGURE 6. This figure illustrates the fact that it would be difiicu'lt to connect the conductors to the wide sides of the posts by conventional clip techniques although the wires can be connected to the narrow sides of the posts by clips in accordance with the instant invention.

It will be understood that electrical connections in accordance with the invention do not necessarily involve a conductor provided with a conventional relatively thick,

insulation sheath as shown in the drawing. The conductor may be provided, alternatively, with a relatively thin film varnish-type insulation which may be removed from the contact area while the connection is being made as disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 367,479,

filed May 13, 1964, for Electrical Connections for a Se-- ries of Terminal Posts. As a further alternative, the insulation can be slit while it is being dragged over the mandrel in accordance with the teachings of FIGURES 26-28 of application Serial No. 338,663.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspectiveagainst the prior art.

I claim:

1. An electrical terminal clip for holding a conductor against, and in electrical contact with, a narrow side of a terminal post having rectangular cross-section, said clip having a web portion, the width of said web portion being substantially equal to the width of the narrow side of said post, a first sidewall extending from one of the longitudinal edges of said web, the width of said first sidewall being less than the width of the wide side of said post, a second sidewall extending from the other edge of said web having a width substantially equal to the width of the conductor whereby, said clip can be mounted on a terminal post with said web disposed against one of said narrow sides and with said conductor contained between said narrow side and said web and extending through said insulation support.

2. A terminal clip as set forth in claim 1 wherein said insulation support comprises an ear formed from said web, said ear being integral with said web along one of said edges and being separated from the other of said edges.

3. A terminal clip as set forth in claim 1 including a hooked end on said flange for bearing engagement with one of said wide sides of said post.

4. A clip-type electrical connection between a oonduc' tor and a terminal post, said post having a rectangular cross-section with relatively wide sides and relatively narrow sides, said connection comprising a clip mounted on said post and having a web portion disposed adjacent to, and extending axially along one of said narrow sides, a first sidewall extending from one of the longitudinal edges of said web and along across a first wide side of said post, a second sidewall extending from the other longitudinal edge of said web and across the other wide side of said post, said other wide side extending around the other narrow side of said post, an insulation support and strain relief at the one end of said web which is proximate to the-base of said post, said insulation support and strain relief comprising an outwardly formed portion of said web, said conductor being confined between said web and said one narrow side of said post and extending towards the fixed end of said post, said conductor emerging from confined relationship through said insulation support and strain relief.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,768 9/1953 Oortgijsen 339-97 X 3,178,672 4/1965 Batcheller 339-258 X PATRICK A. CLIFFORD, Primary Examiner. W.'D. MILLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ELECTRICAL TERMINAL CLIP FOR HOLDING A CONDUCTOR AGAINST, AND IN ELECTRICAL CONTACT WITH, A NARROW SIDE OF A TERMINAL POST HAVING RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION, SAID CLIP HAVING A WEB PORTION, THE WIDTH OF SAID WEB PORTION BEING SUSBTANTIALLY EQUAL THE THE WIDTH OF THE NARROW SIDE OF SAID POST, A FIRST SIDEWALL EXTENDING FROM ONE OF THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF SAID WEB, THE WIDTH OF SAID FIRST SIDEWALL BEING LESS THAN THE WIDTH OF THE WIDE SIDE OF SAID POST, A SECOND SIDEWALL EXTENDING FROM THE OTHER EDGE OF SAID WEB HAVING A WIDTH SUBSTANTIALLY EQAUL TO THE WIDTH OF THE WIDE SIDE OF SAID PORT, SAID SECOND SIDEWALL HAVING A LATERALLY EXTENDING FLANGE THEREON OPPOSED TO SAID WEB, AND INSULATION SUPPORT AND STAIN RELIEF MEANS AT ONE END OF SAID WEB, SAID INSULATION SUPPORT AND STRAIN RELIEF MEANS COMPRISING AN OUTWARLY FORMED PORTION AT ONE END OF SAID 